The Tale of a New Tree
by Redfruitcurrent
Summary: Four young spirits are tasked with continuing the age old tradition of bringing the seed of the old spirit tree to a new place, planting it, creating a new spirit tree. But before that can happen, the Elders need to choose the ones most capable spirits for the task. The story is set in a forest similar to the blind forest of Nibel, but unrelated to Gumo, Naru and Ori.


**The Tale of a New Tree**

Chapter I: Origin

The land of the spirits was a wondrous place, the great birch forest of pale, slender trees stretched out far into the distance, surrounding the glade in the center, where the father stood. The father was a giant birch, towering over everything around it, tall as a mountain. This land didn't only have woods, westwards of the father was a mighty marshland, a wet place full of different kinds of creatures, mostly amphibians and bugs. It was a dangerous, overgrown place, that only the experienced would enter. Located to the northeast were the badlands, where the grove of birches transitioned into a rocky wasteland devoid of green, nothing but grey boulders and dark gravel could be found there. Spirits have used this place to practice survival, it wasn't of use for anything else. The spirits lived mainly near the center of the land, in the fruitful woods where they would be close to their father, the spirit tree. His magical light was woven throughout the area, it granted the spirits rejuvenation, protection, and strengths. The oldest and wisest spirits, called Elders, took care of the place by looking after the elements and structures, teaching and supervising younger generations and most importantly, ensuring the well-being of their father.

It was spring season, everything was covered in pristine petals, blooming flowers and bulbs. The spirits were the most joyful in this time, the Elders even more so. The oldest of them, Urma, sat on a mossy rock on top of a hill, facing towards the white-covered spirit tree. He watched the wind carry the white sparkling leaves of the spirit tree down to the ground, where upon impact, they would turn into new offspring with a flash. The other Elders and previous generations of spirits were standing directly under their father, welcoming the newborn.

Months passed and the newborn spirits grew. They started to show their true colors and developed all kinds of different talents, traits and personalities. The elders taught the younglings what they needed to know, often playfully. Urma took notice of two of them that stood out. One was Teres, she grew faster than the others, consequently being a bit bigger than them. He noticed she early on showed more interest in learning new things and staying loyal to the Elders. Instead of messing around with her siblings, she was eager to fulfill the tasks given to her. The other one was Vee, she was slender and tall. Where Teres put her efforts into work, Vee focused her attention on the life around her, the flowers, the critters and of course, other spirits. But Vee didn't have her head in the clouds. If two reckless spirits ran over a flower patch Vee was there to protect the plants of their demise.

Urma took notice of Teres' great morale and could certainly see her become a kind of teacher or leader later on in her life. Although he saw great potential in her, Vee had a lot of promising qualities too, mainly her connection to nature and the father. She was quite persistent and protective, excellent qualities for a guardian of the tree. It was the Elders' job after all, to ensure that their species would keep on thriving, so they had to pick out who would guide the others.

The day began to come to an end, the sun was setting and most the spirits went to sleep. One of them though, climbed up the hill Urma previously sat on, to watch the night sky.

He was a short spirit, one of many, largely unknown to others. Laying on his back, he observed the first stars lighting up in the firmament. It was a calm night with only the sounds of crickets chirping and a slight breeze blowing through the trees. After a while, another spirit silently climbed up the hill, presumably unnoticed by the short one. This other spirit had a short tail, but was taller than average. He snuck behind the stargazer and then greeted him, the short spirit lifted his head and faced his vision upwards, both of them looking into each other's eyes.

"Hello Trall." He said, still laying on his back.

"Good evening Prokyon, I saw your glow from far away and decided to come and chat a bit, if you don't mind," Trall said kindly.

"Sure." Prokyon turned his eyes back towards the sky.

It was silent for a bit until Trall decided to strike up real conversation. "You do this often, watching the stars. Can I ask you what it is you see in them?"

"...I have been watching these tiny lights for a long time, I don't see anything more in them than you do, I just like how relaxing this activity is. The stars travel over the sky just like the sun and the moon, following the same pattern. And if you look closely, you can find the same stars that could be seen the day before." Prokyon said calmly.

"Hm… I didn't really think about it before." Trall turned his head in the same direction as Prokyon, trying to see what he's seeing.

"Stars follow this wonderful predictable cycle, so I can even tell when certain stars are visible. Maybe I should give them names..." Prokyon was getting lost in thoughts.

"Are you sure about that, Prok?" Trall raised an eyebrow. "This sounds like you're trying to predict the future. A fool's errand if you ask me, the future is always a mystery."

Prokyon sighed. "Not like that, you don't need to predict the future to know that it will snow in the winter season, correct?"

Trall rolled his eyes. "Fine. I guess you're right, but I have trouble believing you that you can tell any two stars apart from another."

"Even so, I still think the future can be predicted. Everything always follows some variant of cycle, be it days, seasons even life itself. I already know that tomorrow, the sun will rise, birds will sing and some of the more active spirits like Naos will already be making battle noises early in the morning, and I don't even have to give much thought to it."

"Heh… the future is not predictable. You wouldn't know for example, who the Elders are going to choose as the seed holders." Trall crossed his arms.

Prokyon smirked at him. "I think I have a fairly good idea on who it is going to be. Of course I cannot literally see what will happen, but by a good chance and by judging what the Elders see as good 'qualities', there are two very likely options. Vee and Teres."

"I know how the Elders think. Maybe even I could be chosen, if I prove my worth somehow. Hah, you cannot know until it happens, I suppose."

"Perhaps, but that is extremely unlikely. Think about it, the Elders are going to select a handful of spirit to bring the sacred seed into far away lands, planting a new spirit tree, making a new settlement for our kind. The skills required to do such a thing successfully are difficult, you need discipline, good physical capabilities, carefulness… And you lack quite a bit of those."

"I'm doing what I can, Prokyon. But still, even if it is unlikely, you cannot be absolutely sure."

"Oh well, you can try, I stand by my point."

The next day, the aforementioned spirit called Naos was indeed up very early to find a quiet place to practice battle exercises. The sun was barely shining over the horizon, the air was still chilly and drops of dew were scattered on the leaves. Naos was a tall spirit, he had strong legs and an unquenchable thirst for adventure, so he went deep into the birch woods surrounding the spirit tree. He made sure nobody was around, so he began to kick one of the trees, swing his fists around, jump around, and do all kinds of different practices.

The yelling and noise of something clubbing against wood attracted a nearby spirit, who was gathering branches. He turned around to the direction of the sound, and approached the source. The little spirit saw Naos jumping around in an ecstatic fashion, athletically punching into the air, as if some enemy was standing there. Hiding in a bush, the small spirit continue to observe him, as he was intrigued by Naos' exciting display of skill.

Unaware of the presence of his admirer, Naos did more reckless moves, hardly keeping balance. Inevitably, he slipped on the foliage and crashed into the brush, falling right on top of the hiding spirit, followed by two high pitched screams. Both spirits were in shock, Naos backed off.

"Sorry! I didn't notice anyone else was here, are you alright?" He nervously tried to help up the young spirit from the ground.

Naos saw that the spirit was holding his head, which was mildly bruised, and tried to not make eye contact with Naos. "I- I have a headache… some aid materials are at home, it's close n-nearby-" He stuttered out.

"I will bring you there then." Naos decided with a determined look. He scooped up the injured one, to his surprise.

"Which direction?" Naos asked him.

"Ju-just up the path, until you come across vines." He shyly responded.

Naos hurried, holding the spirit in his arms he ran along the dirt track barely visible on the ground. It didn't take long until they could see the vines hanging low from nearby trees, covering the view. Naos slowed down, and pushed the vines aside to proceed forward, and after traversing the thick vegetation, a tiny hut in the middle of a clearance was revealed to him. The sun's beams focusing on the empty space before it, illuminating the flowers growing there.

"That's your home?" Naos asked with disbelief.

"Y-yes!" A slight smile formed on his face.

"Alright." Naos carried him up to the front entrance, then peeked into the hut. It was made out of branches, wood and moss. The walls were covered with bark, a few little lights were hanging from the ceiling and a dreamcatcher indicated the place of the sleeping spot. Naos carefully laid down the young one on top of the wheat and hay.

"So where's the healing stuff?" Naos looked around.

"It's right there." He pointed to a little clay pot with a thin layer of woven cloth as a lid, it was right behind Naos in the corner. He spotted the pot, and attempted to pull of the lid, but it didn't manage to come off. He pinched the cloth, lifted the pot up to look at it from different angles, and was slowly getting impatient.  
"N-no! Not like that!" The little spirit said worriedly and stood up to rushed over to Naos, who was too busy to notice, until the spirit's hand reached over to the lid and pulled on a single string at the side. It retracted the other strings, opening the top part.

"Oh. I didn't see that." Naos said bluntly. He reached into the vessel and grabbed a few green herbs from it, and handed them to his companion.  
"Here, I hope this will ease the pain I caused."

"Th-thanks… I'm sure it will. And don't feel too bad about it, it wasn't your fault! I mean, because it was an accident. So don't worry." The spirit pulled off some of the bulbs of the herb, and ate them, and used the long leaves as a bandage for his head. Even if it wasn't really necessary.  
"I…. I think I could have just walked myself, you didn't need to c-carry me, but thank you still!" He gave Naos a warm smile.

"I just wanted to be sure you would be okay, and I didn't want you to pass out or something like that." Naos admitted, smiling back at him.

"My name's Naos by the way, I try to go far out for my practice, away from where most of the others are, so nothing like _this_ happens." He sighed.

"I'm Era… I don't really like to be near a lot of other spirits either. So I do stuff by myself." he said with a tiny hint of sadness. Era began to become more comfortable around Naos. Since he tried so hard to help him, he probably was trustworthy.

"I don't think I've seen you before. What things do you do around here even?" Naos sat down and leaned back at the wall.

"I do carvings and I made this house… and I play with the light." Era covered his chest with his arms.

"And you made the hut and all the things around just by yourself?" Naos tilted his head in disbelief.

"Uhm… I did built this all alone, yes, but I had to learn how these things are done before I could start. I asked the older spirits how to build things like houses and pots, when I knew enough I moved to right here. I do still go back to where the others are sometimes, so they don't worry about me." Era nervously looked away from Naos, fearing he would tell an Elder,who would make Era move back to the more safe zones around the spirit tree. Luckily Naos didn't seem to mind.

"Alright, if you want I can keep my mouth shut about your hideout. It's not a big problem in my opinion." He said calmly.

Era exhaled in relief, immediately his muscles loosened up.  
"Thank you, that would be very nice of you."

Naos stretched and stood back up. "Well, it was nice meeting you, I will be more careful next time to not fall on anyone again." He headed towards the entrance.

"W-wait!" Era jumped up and sprinted up to him.

"Yeah?" Naos turned his head to Era.

"I want to thank you for being so nice to me, so I will show you my most secret secret!" Era's eyes lit up with enthusiasm, to the surprise of Naos.

"More secrets? I'm curious, what is it?" Era had Naos' full attention now

Era ran to a pile of leaves, which had been laying behind the pottery. He reached into the foliage and pulled out a bright light, which he held right up to Naos' face, causing Naos to take a step back and stare at the glow with shock and awe. He mustered up a few words, "Wait what is that? Is that a star?"

"Not a star!" Era denied.  
"It's a light vessel!" He tapped the orb, it made a glassy sound.

"I carved it out of a crystal, then I took i to a spirit well and infused it with light" Era explained proudly.  
Naos' mouth was wide open. "And you did this without the help of Elders?"

"Yes, this is my own invention." Era nodded and put the little shining ball back into its protective pile of leaves.

"That's amazing, Era! Why haven't you shown anyone?" Naos asked excitedly.  
"..." Era looked to his side. "I don't know what they would do or think. I'm glad it could impress you though! So..." Era wasn't sure how to justify himself.

"Well I think it's great and you should definitely show the other spirits too, they won't be less surprised than me, I am sure!" Naos tapped Era on the shoulder. "Think about it."

Era became flustered and stepped back. "You think so? But what about my place here… I don't want all the attention and-" He struggled to think of other reasons.

"It's still your choice. I will keep this as a secret like promised, no need to rush. But I want you to think about it." Naos crossed his arms and smiled at him.

"A-alright, I will…!" It was a bit overwhelming for Era, his heart was beating fast.

"Heh." Naos smirked. "Well I think I will leave you be for now, it was nice to meet you Era, we should sometime meet again at the grove."

"Mhm you probably have a lot more to do today, if you want you can visit me here too!" Era's worry faded, he was glad to have made a new friend this day.

"Awesome, see you soon Era!" Naos walked outside the hut, and once he was on the path back, he waved at Era, who was waving back at him gleefully.

At the same time, Vee was sitting on the soft moss that grew on top of the broad roots of the spirit tree. She caressed the bark of the tree gently, calmly inspecting the intricate fibers, which overflowed with the blue light. A feeling of safety surrounded her whenever she was close to her father, she layed down, closed her eyes and listened to the sound of his leaves rustling in the wind.

Her peace was then disturbed by sounds she perceived as the barbaric smacking of wood against tree trunks. Vee, with an annoyed expression, opened her eyes and glared towards the direction of the clacking. In the open grassy field, there was Teres, wielding a long wooden stick. Elegantly, she moved around swinging the branch around herself to strike the short tree she used as a practice dummy. Where as other spirits wouldn't pay much attention to such a thing, Vee reacted strongly. For every impact of the stick on the bark, Vee flinched in disgust. She decided to put an end to it.

Vee descended from the root and approached Teres slowly. She heard Vee's footsteps and put an halt to her training session to see who it was. When she recognized Vee, Teres waved at her. "Hello Vee."  
"Hi there Teres." Vee crossed her arms, looking at Teres with an contempt expression.  
"Is something the matter?" Teres asked in confusion.  
"Yes. Yes there is." Vee rolled her eyes, as if Teres should already know the answer.  
"That branch." Vee pointed at Tere's stick. "It's disrespectful for the forest for you to use parts of our trees as a _weapon_." She explained.

Teres looked at her hand, in which she was holding her stick. She turned back to Vee.  
"I don't see it as much of a problem, why is this an issue?"

"_Obviously_..." Vee looked Teres sharply into her eyes, "because you are using dead parts of a once living being, or even worse, pulled this branch off a still live one! Now cast it away, I don't want you using it." She looked away from Teres conceitedly.

"I won't." Teres responded calmly, unaffected by Vee's behaviour. "Urma has told me I have the potential to be the greatest spirit fighter of the generation, if I put enough effort into it. He didn't mind my choice of weapon. But I can go somewhere else to practice if you don't want to witness it, Vee."

Vee turned her head back to Teres, "How about a duel. If you lose you will put these staves away, if you win I won't complain anymore." She awaited Tere's response in anticipation.  
"..." Teres thought about the idea for a few moments, but quickly decided.

"I accept." She clenched to her weapon and took on a battle ready pose, tensening up her body.  
Vee smirked and lifted up her right hand, making a small root emerge from the earth underneath. "I didn't expect you to be willing to do this, do your best Teres."

The fight started with Teres leaping forward, spinning the staff, Vee blocked the hit with the root from below and kicked Teres into the side, which pained Teres, but couldn't make her budge. Teres wielded her stick in front of her horizontally and pushed against the root, overpowering it and reaching Vee, who couldn't react fast enough and received a heavy smack to her belly, causing her to fall. She let two new roots strike up from the ground, entangling both of Tere's arms, giving herself a chance to get back up and strike her. Vee punched right into Teres' face, making her back off and break through the constraint of the roots. Teres quickly retaliated, slashing the staff onto Vee's head, who let out a short scream. They both felt a burning pain, where they got hit. Neither of them were willing to give up, so Vee continued by guiding another really long vine through the air, standing between herself and Teres. Before the plant could get hold of Teres, she fiercely slashed off the front half with her weapon, making the whole thing fall to the ground. Slightly annoyed, she strained her hand in an attempt to raise the vine again, but to no avail, she huffed and leapt forth with her fist. Teres shielded the impact with her stick, the two spirits then pushed against each other, until Teres took a sudden step backwards, causing Vee to fall. Wasting no time, Teres jumped on top of her back to pin her down, restraining Vee's hands.  
"I won." Teres panted, a drop of sweat rolled down her face.  
"Hnnngg.." Vee struggled and squirmed. She couldn't free herself.  
Teres didn't look out for her surroundings, Vee was able to grab Teres' legs with two of the roots. She turned around in shock, trying to strike them. But letting loose of Vee enabled her to attack Teres from behind, she tackled Teres. Teres fell on her belly, right onto the roots. The roots quickly entangled Teres, tying her up. Vee victoriously puts her left hoof on top of Teres. "No, **I** won!"

After she let Teres struggle for a while, she released her. "You fought well, Teres. You almost beat me if it wasn't for my wit and quick reactions." Vee confidently complimented herself.

Teres stood up and brushed off some of the dirt on her fur. "You also fought well, Vee. I hope to beat you someday, only the Elders are more powerful than you are." Teres gave her the respect she thought Vee deserved. This made Vee grin, she felt accomplished.

"And I will keep my promise and put the stick away." Teres picked up the branch, laid it into the bushes nearby and turned around to leave. "Goodbye Teres!" Vee said overly cheerfully. It got to her head that she was pretty much undefeated in her age class. But when her fervor faded, Vee was a quiet spirit tending to nature.

Teres began to ponder. She didn't have any powerful talent, light or ability as they are often called. Vee could affect and even create plantlife, Teres on the other hand only had her physical skills. This made Teres hopeful, because once she would discover her own little ability, she could easily overwhelm Vee in a duel. She felt like she had a duty to become a protector of the tribe of spirits. However beating Vee has become a more personal thing. She had often attempted to fight her, but always lost. Like every time before, Vee taunts her after each loss.

But as soon as Teres saw the beautiful sunset over the land, her worries and grudge against Vee faded. She stood between the trees and a few thin sunbeams reached to her, soothing her mind...

When the night was over, the sun peeked over the horizon again, beginning the new day. Dew was delicately spread over the small blades of grass and insects began buzzing about in the air.  
Prokyon was cushioned in his bed, still sleeping despite the warmth extending into his place.  
But it didn't take long until a certain someone came bursting into his den.

"Prok! Do you still ha-" Trall excitedly exclaimed, but then cutting himself off when he realized that Prokyon wasn't awake. He awkwardly stepped out of the den.

"_sigh_, what is it Trall? I woke up now so you might as well ask me." Prokyon said with annoyance and fatigue in his voice.

"I just wanted to ask you if you still have that map you made of the marshlands."

"I do."

"Excellent, do you mind if I…?" Trall reached with his hand towards the papyrus, looking at Prokyon for approval.

"You can borrow it. Is this part of your plan to impress the elders?" Prokyon squinted his eyes.  
"It is. Yep." Trall grinned and snatched the map. "You see, the marshlands grow important healing plants that are the foundation of our kind's medicine. But I'm sure you knew that."

Prokyon got up from his bed and stepped up to Trall.  
"Then you also know that the marshlands are very dangerous this season of the year, making them inaccessible."

"And that is exactly…" Trall spoke as he inspected the map, "...why you should come along. You can read the map and give directions and I can look out for dangers. What do you think?"

Prokyon sighed and looked back at his desk, which was just a tree trunk. He didn't want to get in trouble, but he was incredibly bored and dreaded to just sit around all day again.

"Fine. I will come with you." Prokyon decided. He walked past Trall to go outside the den, taking the map out of Tralls hands.

"Great!" Trall exclaimed with a confident look on his face. He walked beside Prokyon, trying to make out the markings on the map.

"Is there anything else you need to take before we start?" Trall asked.

"I cannot think of anything. But it would be best if we start right away to get back in time before nightfall." Prokyon noted.

"Onwards, then!" Trall pointed westwards, where the marsh was located.

The two spirits traversed the safer birchwoods, where other spirits wandered around. None of them paid any attention to the duo, as many of the other spirits were busy with their usual tasks. Step by step, Prokyon and Trall got further away from the spirit tree. Even though it was noon, they felt as if it became more gloomy around them, when they slowly left the place of their father's light. Instead of lush green grass, big leaved ferns and tall strong birch trees, they started to encounter thick long reeds, wide old oaks and thorny dense bushes. It became apparent that they have crossed the border to the marsh.

"Trall, we need to find a reference point to where we are on the map." Prokyon instructed, glancing around in the vegetation.

"Like what?" Trall asked.

"Like a river." Prokyon examined his map again. With thin paint, pathways, bodies of water and locations of certain plants were drawn on it. According to the map, they should be close to a river, which they needed to cross.

Without Prokyon's notice, Trall had climbed on a short tree nearby. "Like the river over there?" Trall called from above.  
Prokyon's focus was disrupted by the sudden change of direction Trall spoke from. He spotted Trall a few feet above him, who was pointing southwest.  
"Behind those reeds." Trall continued.

"Good, now we know where exactly we are." Prokyon mumbled to himself, looking back at the map.

"Go on then, Prok," Trall held his hand forward. "I will back you up."  
He jumped down from branch to the ground.

Prokoyn proceeded forward, carefully pushing the reeds aside. He felt the ground underneath him was wet, almost muddy. He heard the faint splashing of the water ahead, indicating him that he came closer. Behind him, Trall stepped into the exact same spots as he, as to not deviate from the path.

"Here we are." Prokyon stood at the edge of the raging river.  
It rustled behind him, and Trall stepped out of the dense reed patch, now seeing the wide gap between the shores too.

"And how will we get over?" He asked reproachfully.  
"Simple. We use the log upstream." Prokyon looked at him with a slight smile, then turned around to walk alongside the river. Trall raised an eyebrow and silently followed him.

And indeed, just a little further north was a large log, laying over the river, functioning as a bridge. Prokyon climbed up the brittle wood and took a few steps forward, to check if it was still stable enough. The log resisted his treads, so he waved Trall to come up.

"Ah I see… Is that what you used to get over the river the first time you came here too?"

"Precisely." Prokyon nodded.

"Seems a bit unsafe in the long term." Trall noted.

"Only if you are careless." Prokyon turned his back to Trall and faced the river raging below.  
Trall took the opportunity and jokingly nudged Prokyon, who shrieked as he lost balance. He threw himself backwards to land on the log. The disturbed spirit looked at Trall indignantly, who was grimacing and offering him a hand to get him back up.

Jokingly, he told him "See? Not safe."

Prokyon ignored the help and got up by himself. "Do not ever do that again." He responded with a harsh tone to Trall. But Trall didn't give any attention to him. Prokyon paced towards the end of the log and proceeded to get off it.

The incident was quickly forgotten, when the two continued their hike through the marsh. Vegetation got wilder, larger bushes, bamboo and nettles cluttered the area. Prokyon constantly stared at his map, to avoid the larger water bodies. Trall casually followed up, sometimes looking left and right to see if anything of interest could be spotted.

After hours of walking, Prokyon stopped in front of a row of willows, their leaves blocking the view. He turned around to Trall with a smile.

"We arrived."

Before Trall could react, Prokyon went through the dense foliage, the leaves rustled. Not wanting to fall behind, Trall rushed after him. On the other side, Trall was immediately awestruck. A delightful glade was hidden between these willows, colorful flowers, blooming bushes and large round fungi were littered around the place.

"Wow..." Trall glanced in every direction to get a complete view of the glade. He didn't expect such an oasis of beauty in the middle of the wet marsh.  
"It's safe here, I don't hear or see any foes." Prokyon said, completely ignoring the magic of beauty this place was covered in.

"Look…!" Trall pulled a stem with green bulbs from the ground. "The healing plants."  
Prokyon gently took the plant.

"They grow in large numbers here. I once accompanied a scouting group that gathered them here. We were lucky that we didn't encounter any of the creatures inhabiting the area Trall."

"Then we shouldn't stay here long." Trall concluded, quickly turning back to the glade to spot some more healing plants.

Just like Trall, Prokyon didn't waste and time and began picking these special herbs. The enthusiasm of Trall helped him quickly harvest the plants, he gathered a notable pile of them. Prokyon however, had a much keener eye to distinguish the healing plant from the similar looking weeds. Soon he held an entire bundle in his arms.

"Trall!" Prokyon called loudly over the glade, so Trall could hear him.

"We ought to go. The sun has passed the zenith!"  
Trall reacted quickly and ran up to Prokyon, who was standing at the side of the glade where they entered. "Alright, I got quite a decent amount so waste no time and lead us home, Prok." Trall said with determination.

They took the same route home they took to get to the glade, because Prokyon couldn't look at his map, not having any free hands. Trall was carrying as much as Prokyon and couldn't look at it either. They only occasionally stopped to lay down the herbs and check if they were still on the right trail. Going through all the wet mud, sturdy bamboo and thorny bushes again was exhausting, so they took a break near the river with the log.

"We're…. almost back..." Prokyon panted, sitting down on the grass. Drops of sweat rolled over his body.  
"It's only over… the log and then… the border right?" Trall asked in exhaustion. He wasn't holding up any better than Prokyon. He laid down on his back and closed his eyes, as he breathed heavily.

Prokyon squinted, looking towards the other shore, to spot the log. He found it in the distance to the right. "I… can see it there." Prokyon assured Trall.

But there was something else, on the edge of the log. On their shore, he saw a blurry silhouette. No matter how much he squinted, he couldn't tell what it was.

"Trall, there is something over there." Prokyon said with caution.

"What is it?" Trall inquired with an annoyed tone, still laying on his back.

It became clear to Prokyon that it couldn't be another spirit, or else it would have a faint shine. He stood up and took a step closer towards it, hoping he could more clearly see what it was.

"Trall, get up!" Prokyon commanded.

"What? Why?" Trall hesitated, but when he lifted his head, he could see what Prokyon was now seeing too. The creature right next to the log, was in fact, a deadly amphibian. A toad, about twice the size of the spirits. It had orange, rough skin and reddish horn-like outgrowths on it's head. It also had white, glassy eyes and it was unclear to the two spirits where it was looking. Trall stood up and crouched next to Prokyon, behind the long grass blades.

"Of course, at the worst possible time!" He whispered, still exhausted. He clenched his teeth and stared at the foe, trying to find a way around it.

"Okay how do we deal with this, Prok?"

"We can look for a different paths to cross the river, for example."  
"But that could take ages!"

The two heard the creature croak, it had turned towards them.  
"It heard us." Trall pointed out.

"We need act now, Trall." Prokyon picked up all the herbs, but this sudden movement attracted the toad, it began to hop towards the pair.

"Run!" Prokyon yelled.

Trall reacted fast, he tried to muster up enough stamina for a sprint away from danger. Prokyon couldn't run as fast as usual, because he was holding both the piles of healing plants.  
The toad was slowly catching up. Trall ran ahead, Prokyon was behind him. He looked over his shoulder and could see the creature. He knew there was only one thing he could do to outrun it. He threw away a big portion of the herbs, it glided in the air for a bit, slightly irritating the toad, but it kept chasing them. Now, Prokyon could run much faster and caught up with Trall again. Both of them looked over their shoulders to see how much distance was left between them and the toad, it was getting bigger but they needed to run a lot more if they wanted to completely get rid of it. Having poor eyesight, the toad launched its tongue forward to catch one of the airborne herbs, mistaking it for an insect.  
Trall had an idea, he lifted his hand and used his light to create a blue sphere, it floated in the air and he could affect the direction it would take. It flew over the river, towards the other shore. This bright ball took the full attention of the toad, it stopped and turned directly towards it. The blue light was out of reach and the toad hurled its body into the river, quickly swimming to the other shore to chase it.  
Trall was relieved when he saw the toad disappear between the reeds, his plan worked, and he slowed down. Prokyon stopped running too, and collapsed. He tightly held the last few herbs he still had.

Panting heavily, Trall walked up to Prokyon, who was still conscious, but couldn't move a muscle from exhaustion. "I think… we're safe now." Trall said quietly.

They remained there for a while, recovering from the shock and recollecting enough stamina for their final stretch home. It was getting late, and the sun was descending closer to the horizon. Trall remembered that they had to get home in time, he looked at the tiny amount of herbs that remained.

"...We lost a lot of these plants though.."

"For us two untrained spirits, I think even this tiny quantity is impressive." Prokyon remarked, his voice sounded dry.

"Let's conclude this adventure, what we have is better than nothing." He looked over the river, it was calm, no amphibians in sight. Prokyon stood up and stretched himself, he was getting tired, so without saying a word, he walked towards the log bridge. The wind blew a few leaves through the air, some landing in the fast waters of the river. Now, the two spirits could go home. They crossed the river and shortly after, the border back into the birch forest too.

When they arrived back at their beloved homeland, relief filled them. The setting sun enveloped the environment in an orange tint, crickets were chirping.

"See you tomorrow Trall. Wake me up again, if I oversleep"

"Alright. See ya, Prok." Trall gave Prokyon a gentle tap on the shoulder, then they parted ways.

Prokyon entered his little den, placed the map back on the desk with with the other maps, and laid the healing plants into a basket in the corner. He laid down on the soft moss, looking directly at the basket. Slowly, his eye lids became heavier, and he closed his eyes.  
After a short reflection back on the day, he fell asleep.

His friend Trall also arrived at his shelter. It was a den in the branches of a short tree, having walls made from a lot of thin twigs. Silently, Trall climbed up the tree, crawled inside his bed of leaves and watched the last light of the sun disappear serenely. Night came over the forest and the orange colors were replaced with a dark blue.

On the next day, Prokyon woke up, the sun was already high and shining into face with its warm caressing beams. He rubs his eyes and does his usual morning routine, washing his fur, tidying the bed, and check on his maps ... of which one was missing. "_sigh_, he forgot to give it back."

Prokyon came out of his small den and breathed the noon air, it was suspiciously silent for it being so late, but he didn't give much thought to it. Instead he walked towards Trall's place to see what he's up to. After the short walk he arrived, and it was as empty as the rest of the place. An unpleasant feeling ran through Prokyon.

He climbed up a nearby hill, to get a better view. When he arrived at the top he could oversee the entire forest of birches. Fluffy clouds hovered across the horizon and the Spirit Tree in the middle was surrounded by a shining halo, light blue sparks where coming out of it. Prokyon was in shock, his intuition turned out right. Around the center, every spirit in close proximity gathered around. He could spot the Elders in front of the tree, standing there and giving a speech. Without hesitating much longer, Prokyon made out the shortest path and sprinted down the hill towards the event. His chest felt like it was burning from the exhaustive movement. He couldn't believe no one woke him up, not even Trall.

Soon enough, Prokyon arrived at the back of the crowd. They didn't pay any attention to him, and stared forward to listen to the Elders. He peaked over the mumbling spirits before him to watch the spectacle.

Urma stood on a tall root at the Spirit Tree. With a loud and booming voice he spoke,

"...So for all these reasons, we have decided to select four brave souls this year to carry on the tradition of our expansion! We are sure about who we will pick this year, our final thoughts shall be shared with you all, so you may know!"

The other Elders nodded in agreement. The crowd cheered.

"Our first choice was... Naos!" Urma spoke out gleefully. As soon as he said that Naos jumped out of the crowd up to the Elders in one mighty leap, turned around and smiled.

"Naos my boy, I showed you the way of the adventurer, you are well equipped with knowledge to beat the darkness from beyond! You are the fist of the pioneers and your courage is unmatched!" Urma proudly held up one of Naos' arms to present him to the crowd. All the spirits applauded Naos, the echo of their clapping reached far.

"Our next choice is...!"

But then, Urma was interrupted by calls from below.

"HEY! HEY!"

It was a familiar voice.

"Hm..?" Urma walked to the edge and looked down, with a confused expression. Naos looked at him and shrugged.

Prokyon was confused. The spirit that was standing there was none other than Trall, and he was swinging around the healing plants in his hand. Did Trall forget about him?

"Great Urma, dear Elders and my siblings!" Trall spoke to them. A moment of silence followed, then a few of the spirits started whispering to each other.

"I, Trall, have come to prove you my worth as I brought you ... THESE!" He held up the plants. The crowd was now murmuring around him, this is certainly unusual. Urma responded to him; "Are those... healing ingredients? How did you get those around this time of year?"

"Well, I ventured through the dark deep marshlands, just to get them for you! In my humbleness, I do not desire to keep any of them for myself, they are all yours!" Trall spoke melodramatically. "I risked my life just to show you, to _prove_ to you, that I should go on this mission! I'm sure together with the others, no obstacle would be too great for us!"

These words filled Prokyon with rage.

Urma became suspicious, he raised an eyebrow and responded to the spirit below, with his deep loud voice. "Trall, I admire your courage, but I see a small problem there... how did you find your way back home? These marshlands are a labyrinth, a deadly one that we only ever go into in groups and at the right time! How did you manage to find your way through?"

Trall cleared his throat, and put his fist on his chest heroically "Just with the power of my own determination to do good! A very-"

"LIES!"

Prokyon screamed from behind. The crowd was in stasis, frozen in shock, as they watched the small spirit boil in rage, and make his way through them towards Trall. Never had they heard him make such a loud noise. Trall was stumbling on his words, and couldn't believe what he saw. "Ah, oh er... Prokyon! Good... to see that you managed to come too!" Trall said nervously as a drop of sweat rolled down his face. Prokyon now approached very close, and then after he arrived at the bottom of the tree, stood right in front of Trall, who was considerably taller than him. But Prokyon's looked at Trall with a murderous rage, clenching his teeth. His aura caused fear in the surrounding spirits, only Trall was more irritated than anything. "What are you d-" Trall said quietly to Prokyon.

"You are a liar." Prokyon interrupted him, with a quiet and calm tone. But then he immediately burst out into wild wrath,

"YOU ARE A LIAR." he screamed into Trall's face, clenching his fists. Some spirits in the background flinched. In utter shock their mouths were wide open.

And then everything was silent. Prokyon panted, his eyes still focused onto his... 'friend'.

"Not only, NOT only did you fail to mention that you used MY map, you failed to mention that I CAME WITH YOU. If not for my help, you would have been lost there. You are filth, Trall. You are below dirt." Prokyon's rage started to fade, and turn into disappointment.

"HEY!" Trall, responded. He held up his index finger to Prokyon's face, and raised his own head like he talked to a child.

"Who are you to make these extraordinary claims? You didn't even come to the ceremony at the right time! "

Trall turned around to face the Elders,

"Do you see how irrational and aggressive he is? You should remove him from here, silence him before he tells more lies" Prokyon still looked at Trall with a face as sour as a lemon.

"Trall do whatever you want, I don't care. But next time you cross my path I will spit on you." He said sharply. Them he turned opposite direction to leave...

"HALT!" The loud voice from above spoke.

"Prokyon, if you speak the truth, how did you construct such a map?"

... Prokyon stopped walking and answered. "Every time it was safe season, or other spirits cleared it out, I would go inside and mark down safe paths. The next time I would go in deeper, and mark changes and common places for everything. It took me Six moons to finish my Map of this place."

Trall responded condescending "Yeah yeah of course, where is that map then? I don't see you carrying anything. Now would you-"

"Stop Trall." One of the other Elders interrupted. It was no other than the Scout head-leader. "I saw him going into the marsh with papyrus last moon. And I personally saw his other maps before. They are excellent quality, I put my vow onto his words! He is speaking TRUTH!"

Trall is filled with fury, how could it be that so many things went wrong with his plan? He threw the plants bluntly onto the ground, and let out a growl.

"FINE, if you are so dead-set on me being wrong, then I wont bother to continue discussion." He stormed off stomping, pushing aside the spirits in the crowd. And Prokyon's glare followed him all the way. After Trall was gone, Prokyon let out a sigh. He was relieved that it was taken care of, but he still disturbed the ceremony and lost his only friend. Which hit him deep.

Urma then took the word.

"We apologize for this incident. This proves that our selection process needs to be very careful, my dear spirits. With that being said, let us choose the remaining three."

He clapped his hands together. The crowd was still silent, but quickly recovered and showed reactions again.

The scene became more lively, and so Prokyon could leave unnoticed. He wasn't in the mood to celebrate. He just wanted to sleep and forget. He heard the echo of the announcements and the cheering of the crowd behind him, he hoped that righteous spirits would become the pioneers, and not someone like Trall. Prokyon decided to go as far away from the noise as possible. He wanted spend the rest of the day in the stone desert to the east, and return at night to sleep.

In one of the front rows, Teres and Vee stood next to each other. Teres with her arms crossed and had a sceptic but attentive expression. She never saw Prokyon like that, nor anyone act up in front of the elders in a similar manner. Vee on the other hand, was smirking at Teres. "Hey stick girl, watch me beat you again. This time as one of the Sapling Guardians! " Teres turned around to her, and said in an down-to-earth tone "Unless they chose both of us." Vee hadn't thought of that and was slightly baffled by the response. "I don't think so, surely they chose spirits that fit well in a team. And I'm sorry Teres, but we don't make good partners." She said pretentiously. Teres simply rolled her eyes, and put her attention back on the elders in the center.

Naos was in quite a shock after all of that, and didn't hear that Urma was speaking to him.  
"Naos?" The gentle elder asked quietly. Naos snapped out of it and responded to him "Huh?"  
Urma placed his hand on his shoulder, "Take a step back, It's time to announce the next one."  
Naos did what he said, and took a step back to stand next to Urma.  
"Very long have we been trying to make the right choice for this next candidate, some of you might already have some ideas on who it might be, and now I will reveal to you, that it's no other than TERES!" Urma excitingly exclaimed, as he held up both his arms in praise. The crowd rejoiced, and celebrated the spirit girl Teres, who was standing in the crowd still. She was mildly surprised, and smiled in glee as she made her way towards the spirit tree root on which Urma stood. Vee on the other hand was just in shock, she almost couldn't believe it. The words "Wait what-?" escaped her mouth before the crowd covered her sight. In disbelief, Vee looked up to the elders. But it was clearly no mistake, they smiled at Teres, who was climbing up the root now, and not long until she stood in the spotlight. "What did I do wrong…?" Vee asked herself. She looked at her hands. She was so sure of her victory, she defeated every other spirit her age at least once. Surely she would have been the prime choice, right? She looked back at the spirit tree, everyone was celebrating the young Teres. She looked a bit uncomfortable up there where everyone saw her, but she was also clearly very proud of this achievement and waved back to the crowd. The light of the spirit tree seemed to go further and further away from Vee, who was stumbling backwards.

"Children of the tree! Teres is one of the most patient and just spirits I ever met. She never ceased an opportunity to improve herself and didn't ever give up after being defeated. She has been nothing but kind to the young, and nothing but respectful to the old. Truly, she is fit for this task of starting a new life in far away lands!" Urma finished his speech with theatrical enthusiasm. He held Teres close, in his left arm. Teres was his best student, and their bond was deep, Teres hoped to one day take on the same role Urma has in his place. The other elders saw very clearly that Teres was Urma's little darling, and they could only agree on how good of an adolescent she turned out to be. This was enough for Vee, she quietly left the place before Teres could be given more praise.

When the applause faded out, Urma sat down to the elders behind him, and a different elder stood up. He slowly raised his large body with a slight grumble, and stepped forward to face the crowd. Teres and Naos looked at him with a bit of fear, since he was the largest of the present spirit and looked like he could lift entire mountains. His face was painted with intricate square patterns, covering his ominous face. Around his neck he had a pouch. He was known as the master-architect, the one who could displace boulders and create spirit wells. With his deep raspy voice, he began to talk. "Every new settlement needs a protector, a scout, a procurator and an architect. Over the course of the last week, I looked at the creations of the young generation. Impressive carvings have been made, and beautiful sculptures, it was a hard choice to declare one better over the other. Until I saw the ingenious mechanism of a certain little someone." He paused and looked into the crowd, who were eagerly awaiting his choice. "I approached this spirits' home and triggered a bell without noticing, the little spirit came sprinting out of his hut to greet me. And I could see how carefully he made his house, and the art around it. However that wasn't what convinced me of him..." He reached into his pouch and pulled out a glowing ball of light. "He managed to make a glassy sphere and fill it with light at a spirit well, which he used to illuminate his place. I was deeply impressed, and he allowed me to keep it." He put the shiny sphere back into the pouch. "Come forth now, Era!"

And has he loudly called out, the little spirit ran into the center of the place. "Here I am!" Gleefully, Era spoke. The master-architect nodded in content and waved Era to climb up the root to where the others stood. Naos was happy to see his friend again, and helped him climb up by pulling his hand "Hi Era!" Era was flustered to be around so many important spirits "H-Hi to you too!" he responded shyly. Teres gave him a polite smile, the group was almost whole. So far it looked really promising to all of them. "I said everything that needed to be said." The master-architect spoke, and sat back down behind the chosen pioneers.

Urma stood up and took the word again, "As per tradition, the last member you may choose yourself. You still need a scout, and when you decided on one, we will give you the holy seed, and your journey is ready to begin... " He put his hands on the shoulder of Naos and Era, Teres in between them. "We grant you as much time as you need for this decision. This will also be a great practice for your group coordination. We made sure that the spirits we choose could function well together, make it your strength!" He smiled at them, and then stepped to the edge of the root, where the crowd could clearly see and hear him again.  
"The group now gets its time of selection! The three will now be given everything they need in private by the elders, and the seed will be given to them once they made their choice. The ceremony's first half is hereby over. The second part will take place at the border to the north, until then, we shall celebrate and feast!"

The following day, Prokyon kept staying in his den. He lied on his sleeping spot and stared at the wall, his back facing the entrance. He didn't feel like getting up, as he was still processing the recent events. As he reflected on the situation, he could hear footsteps behind him, coming closer to his den. He turned around and saw the three chosen pioneers standing in front of him. "Hm? Is there something you want from me?" He asked quietly.

Teres stepped closer to him, and pulled on his hand so he would stand up.  
"We decided that you will be our scout. We chose you as the final member of this group." She did a gesture of respect respect, slightly bowing before him. "Wait what?" he was astonished and caught off guard by these news, what lead them to suddenly chose him of all people? Era stepped forth too, he was only a tiny bit taller than Prokyon. "You spoke fearlessly in front of everyone.. and we felt bad about what Trall did, so we tried to look for you. We didn't really find you, but we saw plenty of your maps here in this den. And if you really made all of these, then you are more than fit to be our scout, come with us please?"

Prokyon was at loss for words. Did they really mean it?

"You seem really honest." Naos spoke out. "We'd really like to have you on the team, as our scout." His words seemed very honest, Prokyon could tell that they truly meant it.

He cleared his throat and responded "Well… if you insist."  
He shook his head, dismissing what he just said. "I am greatly honored to be chosen, I never saw this possibility being plausible."

"Awesome!" Era replied and gave him a short embrace, before going of into a different direction "Now let's go to the Elders! They can finally instruct us!"

…

Later on, each of the Elders passed on important knowledge. They already had most of the training, but a few extra tips were given for their journey. Teres was told how to choose for a good spot for the seed, Naos a few tips on how to react to possible attacks, Prokyon was told that he needs to always remember the signs of his surroundings and finally Era, who was just told to that he will have to support the group in other ways before they settled.

As the day come close to finishing, the Elders called for every spirit again, as the second part of the tradition would now take place. Quickly, the crowd of spirits gathered around them again. This time at the border to the north, where the birch forest fades into a more dense mixed one. There, the Elders stood at the edge of their land, and an Elder held the bright blue, shining spirit tree seed in his hands. The group of pioneers stood in front of them, awaiting the Elders to pass the tree's offspring onto them.

Urma spoke in a loud voice, so everybody could hear him.  
"They have chosen their final member; Prokyon!" Prokyon felt unaffected by all the eyes glaring at him, while his peers had trouble staying calm with all the attention.  
"As the scout, he will find the hidden paths, walk the optimal routes, and lead the group's direction forward." When Urma finished his speech, Prokyon bowed. Urma put his hand on his hand, with a warm smile on his face.  
"You four are now ready to leave us, the journeys are never easy, but the effort is very much worth it. And once the tree spawned its first generation, you may return to us again and tell us about your achievements!"  
The spirits behind them were all suddenly very quiet, as they watched the Elders slowly pass the seed from one to another, until finally Urma was given the seed, who then passed it a final time to Teres. Teres' pupils widened as she looked at this life-giving object, she held it in her arms like a child.  
No one was making any noises.

"You shall cross the border of our land, and claim your own one. We give you our blessing."

Urma closed his eyes, and gestured them to go forward, as the other Elders watched in silence. Nodding, Teres took the first few steps, slowly making her away over the edge of the birch forest. With gentle steps, Era and Naos followed behind her. Prokyon looked back, at all the spirits watching them reverently, not wanting to disturb this significant moment. He nodded and followed behind the group, until he too, crossed the border. Once Urma heard they were far enough away, he opened his eyes again, and loudly called out "Goodbye my children!" And soon after, the other Elders, and the crowd of spirits also gave their final farewell to the pioneers. Teres, upon hearing the calls turned around and waved cheerfully, along with the others. A bit of sadness came over them, they will be gone from their home for a long time, face difficult challenges in world unknown to them. But they were also filled with hope and joy, being given the chance to take part in this tradition that kept their people alive.

Prokyon's thoughts drifted around, he never would have imagined ever coming this far. Only now he realized that his skill, scouting and mapping the lands, could be put to actual use, which he previously just saw as a way to spend time and make living easier in the labyrinth that is the birch lands. He recalled the words Trall spoke to him, before the betrayal. "The future is always a mystery." Trall always was a visionary, thinking about the future and how he could take part in it. He always told him the future was unpredictable, which Prokyon used to deny… but now he can't help but admit that he was right. The future is indeed unpredictable.  
Prokyon shrugged at this thought. If the future is truly unpredictable, then there is no reason to think about it, since it's impossible to foresee what will happen next.


End file.
